Google Fusion tables

Has anybody been using Google Fusion Tables at all?

I often get requests for a map showing all of something in the area. Recently, I got a request for a map of all the hospitals and all the urgent care facilities. I used to always put these together in GIS, make a PDF of the map and then attach a second PDF with the details for each location. This works fine but produces a very static product, especially if the end user doesn't have the ability to access ArcMap and manipulate the data themselves. The final product is always very cumbersome and works out to multiple pages, is a PITA to print, etc.

Last week somebody told me about Google Fusion Tables which allows you to import .XLSX tables and shapefiles converted into .KML files and I thought that this would be a much more useful way to display information for more people to use so this morning I decided to give it a try and in just about 10 minutes I was able to put together a one page interactive map that any end user with an internet connection could use to locate the medical facilities and access the contact information, number of beds, etc. and do so from an email with an embedded link or through a map I post up on one of our websites.

As a further experiment, I'm now working on a map to show the changes in housing prices for each community in the area over time since I like that the Fusion Table maps provide you with the ability to embed a chart into the pop-ups.

Has anybody else on here been experimenting or using Fusion Tables at all and have any good resources for tutorials, ideas, and examples?

I feel like I could easily imagine Google Maps replacing ESRI ArcGIS for simple mapping out of locations/facilities and showing community boundaries with graduated colors for values of a particular variable (population density, unemployment, income levels, etc.).

I had a play around with Fusion Tables earlier in the year. It is pretty impressive. Made a simple map to show Centrelink Office locations. Certainly good for quick bulk importing from mapinfo / arcgis etc.

We architects and urban planners aren't the visible symbols of oppression, like the military or the police. We're more sophisticated, more educated, and more socially conscious. We're the soft cops.- Robert Goodman, After the PlannersMy Planning Forumino

ESRI has released a new online mapping service that is built for what you're trying to do. and as much as i like google's products and services and tend to complain about ESRI, I rather like this one. check it out.

ESRI has released a new online mapping service that is built for what you're trying to do. and as much as i like google's products and services and tend to complain about ESRI, I rather like this one. check it out.

Interesting. I may have to explore a bit with the ESRI stuff since our IT is pushing back against allowing us to use the free, user-intuitive, and free Google based products because we already pay for ESRI which the majority of us don't use to probably 20% of its capabilities.

I think Fusion Tables has a lot of potential for displaying data in numerous ways. It seems to be too new, still, to have a lot of examples to draw from. And I think to use it to its fullest, you need to be familiar with the Google Maps API and other web programming concepts, which are a bit beyond me.